DREDGING & RECLAMATION WORKS

DEFINITION OF DREDGING:
Dredging is the process whereby sub-aqueous
excavation are carried out by plant located above
water level, and may be undertaken for the following
reasons:
§ To lower the bed level to permit the passage of ships
§ To obtain materials for use in land reclamation
§ To obtain aggregates which, after desalination, can
be used in the manufacture of concrete.
§ To obtain materials for use in the construction of
roads and other civil engineering projects.
§ To facilitate the construction of civil engineering
works.
DEFINITION OF RECLAMATION:
§ Reclamation is the process of depositing materials
either in the sea or in low-lying swampy areas in
such a way that useful areas of land are formed.
§ Almost any type of material can be use for
reclamation, depending on the use to which the land
is to be put.
§ This will range from agricultural land and land for
light industrial uses, which can utilise materials
which have load-bearing capacities, to land for the
construction of dock and harbour installations and
power stations, which will require high quality
incompressible material.
Types of Plant and Equipments for Dredging:
i. Hydraulic dredgers
a. Suction dredger
b. Cutter suction dredger
c. Trailing suction hopper dredger
ii. Mechanical dredger
a. Bucket ladder dredger
b. Backhoe dredger
c. Grab dredger
iii. Hydrodynamic dredger
a. Water injection dredger
b. Underwater plough
 PETALING JAYA: The world’s largest trailing suction
hopper dredger arrived in Port Klang last week to carry
out dredging works to deepen the port’s south channel,
with works expected to be completed by the year-
end.The dredging contract was awarded by the Port Klang
Authority (PKA) to Integrated Marine Works Sdn Bhd.“It
entails a work specification of deepening the south
entrance to Port Klang from the current depth of 15.5m to
16.5m. The width of the channel is also being widened
from 365m to 500m. This will enable the largest superpost
panamax container vessels of drafts exceeding15m to
pass one another safely while transiting the 8km channel,”
PKA said in a statement.PKA said the project would
involve dredged volume of approximately 6.2 million cu
m.Integrated Marine Works has assured that the project
would be completed before the end of the year.

Source: The Star Online, Monday August 17, 2009

General consideration for dredging operation:
§ Site investigation and hydrographic surveys must be
carried out to see if the project is feasible from
practical, economical and ecological viewpoints.
§ To determine the methodsof execution including the
necessary plant requirements. Factors that affect this
decision are:
i. Location of site
ii. Dredging depth
iii. Type of material to be dredged
iv. Disposal of materials
i. Location of the site:
§ Plant and equipment will depend to a large extent on the
location of the site.
§ Dredging of inland waterways such as rivers, canals and
lakes will normally require small, easily controllable
dredger that can be transported overland.
§ Dredging within harbour or within easy distance of the
shore will be done with bucket, trailing suction dredgers
or small cutter section dredgers.
§ Dredging in the open sea calls for large, well-equipped
trailing suction dredgers, either with self contained
hoppers or serviced by fleets of barges with necessary
tugs, etc.
ii. Dredging depth:
Dredging depth will determine the type of dredgers to be used.
For example, dredge depths up to 60m can be achieved by the
special suction dredger used for land reclamation with sand.

iii. Type of material to be dredged:

§ All type of material can be dredged.
§ Mud, silt and sand can be removed with bucket or suction
dredgers or grabs.
§ Harder materials such as clay have to be broken up by bucket or
cutter suction dredgers before they can be removed
§ Hard rock, in some instances, can be excavated by purpose made
rock bucket dredgers, but more often than not will have to be
broken up with explosive.
iv. Disposal of material
§ The material arising from dredging operations have
to be deposited.
§ If there is
no area suitable for reclamation, or the
material itself is unsuitable for such a use, the cost of
disposal can form a major part of the cost of
operation.
§ If the quantity is
small, it may still necessary to
employ a lorry with special water-retaining bodies
to transport the material to suitable disposal area.
§ If to be dumpedat sea, it must be away from
shipping lanes and if possible it must not have
impact on marine life.
§ What is Mechanical Dredger?
Mechanical dredger is using heavy equipment to “dig” the bottom
up and remove it. This equipment is usually brought in on a barge,
or works while the body of water is drained. The equipment used
can be very similar to that of residential construction equipment
where a bucket is sent down to haul up dirt and remove it.

§ What is Hydraulic Dredger?

Hydraulic dredger doesn’t use a “scoop” to remove the silt. It

works more like a vacuum cleaner to suck up and filter the bottom
to remove contaminant and create depth.
General consideration in planning of reclamation
operations:
§ Stability of the surrounding land and the effect on existing
watercourses. Proper provision must be made to ensure that
the run-off from the area can pass round, through or under the
area, even at times of flood.
§ Reclamation of coastal sites, especially on a large scale, can
interrupt the natural process by which the foreshore remains
stable. This may result in siltation of existing navigable
waterways or the undermining of sea defences.
§ Therefore planning must be done properly to study the
effects that a reclamation scheme might have on its
surrounding.
The planning stage will involve consideration of:
i. Location of the site
ii. Type of material
iii. Transport of material
i. Location of the site:
§ For inland site the questions of access is all important.
§ If necessary, road and/or rail access must be provided (usually
will be the permanent works) and it may require access from
the sea, i.e. a navigable channel.

ii. Type of material:

§ Sand is the easiest and cheapest to be used.
§ Other than sand, excavated material, rock, etc can be used for
reclamation.

iii. Transport of material:

§ It will involve the mobilisation of large amounts of plant.
§ The plant used will determined the rate at which the
reclamation can be carried out and a great deal of planning
will be required to determine the best combination of
equipment.
Dredging and reclamation with sand
A typical large-scale land reclamation project will involve the
following:
i. Site establishment and mobilisation
ii. Dredging of a stockpit (or dump harbour)
iii. Construction of sea wall or bunds
iv. Pumping sand behind sea wall or bunds
v. Stabilisation of surface
i. Site establishment and mobilisation
This may involve the bringing of road and rail access to the site to
enable large quantities of materials to be transported economically,
the provision of electricity supply, communication system,
installation of conveyor system, the construction independent of
plant yard and offices, etc. It is also involve the movement of
dredgers from other place/parts of the world.

ii. Dredging of a stockpit (dump harbour)

This is a pit on the sea bed, located centrally about the area to be
reclaimed, into the dredgers or barges dump their load. A cutter
suction dredger (or dredger) sitting in the middle of the sockpit
(dump harbour), sucks up the sand which has been previously
dumped and pumps it into its final position.
Its position should be as close inshore as possible to minimise the
pumping distance
iii. Construction of sea wall
When sand placed by artificial means on top of an existing
beach, the natural action of the sea may tend to wash all
“foreign” sand away. Thus, in a coastal reclamation scheme it
may be necessary to protect the reclaimed area by sea walls.
The main components of this type of sea wall are:
§ Toe – formed of heavy rock pieces of precast concrete units
strong enough to withstand and break up the break up the
predicted forces acting upon the foot of the wall.
§ Core – a graded roch heavy enough to withstand normal seas
until armouring is placed.
§ Armouring – formed of large rock pieces laid on the face of the
wall where wave action can be anticipated.
§ Filters – graded gravel layers or man-made fibre sheeting which
prevent the sand behind the wall from getting leeched through
the wall.
§ Sand – above the level of the highest predicted storm conditions,
the wall can be formed of sand with a thin flexible facing if wave
run-up can be anticipated.
iv. Pumping sand behind the sea walls
Once the sea wall is constructed, it will be practicable to start up
pumping sand behind the wall. The dredgers, which may be 20
miles away deposite their loads either directly or by means of
barges into the stockpit. The cutter suction dredgers suck up the
sand and pump it through floating pipelines to its final position
behind the sea wall.
The sea water pumped with the sand runs off through specially
constructed temporary sluices and the sand forms a level surface
which is finally trimmed by buldozer and grader.

v. Stabilisation of the surface

The final operation is the stabilisation of the sand surface. Large
areas of dry sand at an exposed coastal location will be prone to
sand losses of appreciable magnitude. In short term, a weak
bitumen emulsion sprayed on to the sand will bind the surface.